In the contest for governor, Brownback and Jeff Colyer continue to trail the Democratic ticket of Paul Davis and Jill Docking. The poll is consistent with two previous KSN polls conducted before the August 5 primary.

Brownback holds 70 percent of the Republican base, compared to Davis, who holds 91 percent of the Democratic base.

KSN Political Analyst Jeff Jarman says Gov. Brownback is getting more support from Republicans. He is up from 60 percent in KSN’s last poll to 70 percent in the latest KSN News Poll.

“The question and the charge for the Brownback campaign is to bring those people back in and slowly we are seeing some of those people coming back on the Brownback side,” said Jarman.

Voters are split on which issue is most important in the governor’s contest.

Likely voters who say taxes are most important give Brownback a 26 point lead over Davis. For people who think tax rates are the most important factor in choosing Kansas’ governor, 60 percent plan to vote for Brownback and 34 percent say they’d vote for Davis.

Those likely voters who say education is the most important issue give Davis a 43 point lead over Brownback. For people who think education funding is the most important factor in choosing Kansas’ governor, only 24 percent say they will cast their ballot for Brownback and 67 percent say they would cast their vote for Davis.

“We see that Brownback supporters feel strongly about taxes. Davis supporters feel strongly about education funding. And that’s going to be a key dynamic in this race,” said Jarman.

Jarman adds that Davis continues to receive strong support from both Democrats and Moderates. Jarman told KSN that there would have to be a major campaign shift from the governor, and that is something he says is not likely given that voters in the KSN News Poll are most interested in education funding and tax rates, when it comes to their vote.

“People are set. They understand those issues. There’s not going to be any big changes in those issues over the next couple of months. So, they don’t have a reason to change their opinion.”

SurveyUSA interviewed 900 Kansan adults between August 20 – August 23. Of the adults interviewed, 740 were registered to vote. Of those registered, SurveyUSA determined that 560 people are likely to vote in the general election on November 4.

KSN reached out to both gubernatorial candidates to see how the issue of tax breaks and education play into their plan for Kansas.

Paul Davis told KSN it will be a long road to make changes to Kansas schools.

“We’re going [to] have to do this incrementally, we’re not going to be able to turn all this around overnight,” explained Davis. “There’s been frankly a lot of damage done over the past three and a half years and it’s going to take us a little time, but we have no choice but to get our public schools back in the kind of shape that I think all of us want to see them in.”

At last check Tuesday, Gov. Brownback and his campaign declined to comment on the policy questions KSN asked. Instead, the Brownback campaign issued this statement:

“SurveyUSA has a history of inaccurate polling and this is more of the same.”